17 January 2016 – Daily Current Affairs

2016 WTA International (Sydney) Title goes to Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis

On 15 ^th January 2016, Sania Mirza with Martina Hingis grabbed the International WTA (Apia International) Sydney title. The category was women’s doubles and the event took place in Sydney. During the last match, Sania with her partner who hails from Switzerland outshined French pair Kristina Mladenovic and Caroline Garcia by 1-6, 2-5 and 10-5. This also marked the pair’s 30 ^th consecutive win. Overall, this WTA title became the 11 ^th title in their kitty since 2015. Other doubles titles grabbed by this pair were Charleston Miami, Indian Wells, Brisbane, WTA Finals, Beijing, Wuhan, Guangzhou, US Open and Wimbledon.

For development of public infrastructure in health sector, Union Government launches 4 new Mobile-Health Services

Current Union Minister for Family Welfare and Health on 15 ^th January declared launch of four new mobile health services (m-Health services) with the objective of providing citizen-focussed health services. These four m-Health services are Mobile Academy, Kilkari TB (Missed Call) initiative and M-Cessation. Kilkari services are majorly focussed on child birth, child care and pregnancy. Mobile Academy will provide training services for ASHAs and M-Cessation will focus on anti-tobacco strategies. TB initiative will focus on treatment and counselling of TB patients and various other support facilities for them.

Mumbai hosts 61st Filmfare Award Show

On 15 ^th January 2016, Mumbai hosted the Filmfare Awards that celebrated its 61 ^st anniversary at the famous Yash Raj Studio. Famous comedian and actor Kapil Sharma and Shahrukh Khan hosted the Show. Bajirao Mastani was the clear winner grabbing most of the awards during the event. The film won awards for best film, best costume, best actor and best director among others. Other films that won awards were Piku, Tamasha, Masaan, Bombay Velvet, Roy, Bajrangi Bhaijaan etc.  Deepika Padukone and Ranvir Singh won the best actress and best actor awards respectively. Also, Moushumi was conferred with Lifetime Achievement Filmfare Award.

NITI Aayog collaborates with IDFC Bank for manufacturing firm’s Enterprise Survey

On 17 ^th January NITI (The National Institution for Transforming India) Aayog made announcement of its collaboration with IDFC Bank for conducting enterprise related survey on manufacturing firms. The main objective behind setting this collaboration was to evaluate the business related regulatory environment across each state as well as UTs (Union Territories). It also aims to identify regulatory and policy obstacles faced by various businesses in these state/UTs. Some of the survey’s features include bringing out comprehensive level reports and analysis on states, coming out with measures for fostering cooperative and competitive federalism as well as supporting Make-in-India initiative of the government.

Anuradha Roy wins 2016 DSC Award for her novel

On 16 ^th January 2016, famous Indian writer and award-winning novelist Anuradha Roy grabbed the esteemed DSC Prize under the South-Asian Literature category for her novel ‘Sleeping on Jupiter’. The award ceremony took place in Sri Lanka during the on-going Literary Festival. Prime Minister of Sri Lanka Ranil Wickremesinghe presented the award. Other shortlisted candidates were Akhil Sharma (Family Life), KR Meera (Hangwomen), Neel Mukherjee (Lives of others), RK Jha and Mirza Waheed. Anuradha is also an editor and a journalist.